Tortured
by lucocat
Summary: Hi - submitting my first story, please be nice! Kate didn't die, no ref to Ari/Twilight. Might be Kibbs eventually
1. Chapter 1

Hi, almost forgot to add-on the disclaimer!! No infringement on characters/show/stories etc intended. This is written for my own personal enjoyment, no financial gains being made.

The elevator dinged, signalling it had arrived at it's intended floor; when the doors opened three men, instantly recognisable as Federal Agents due to the standardised tailored dark suits and trench-coat uniforms, stepped off. The older of the men took in his surroundings before his gaze descended upon his prey.

"_FORNELL!! What took you so long? I rang 3 hours ago, you appear to have neglected to share information – AGAIN!!"_

"_Gibbs given the nature of the request and the manner in which it was delivered, you're damned lucky you got a paperclip never mind the intelligence reports we did send"_

Gibbs, who'd become increasingly irritated during Fornell's snarky retort simply barked _"conference room"_ before stalking off, glaring at the other Agents who dared be standing near him waiting for the doors to open. All of the waiting Agents, particularly those who'd been on the receiving end of Gibb's wrath before, suddenly found the stairwell much more appealing. Even the Agent carrying a box of particularly heavy files, needed by a team working two floors up decided the stairs were a better means of getting to his destination.

Enraging Gibbs even more was that Fornell had seemingly ambled over to the elevator, in no apparent hurry: _"Damn it Tobias, hurry up"_

"_Patience Gibbs is a virtue never to be underestimated"_

Tony and McGee, two of the witnesses to what had happened, turned to the remaining FBI Agents sporting matching smirks that even Gibbs would have been proud of.

"_Probie, remind me of exactly how many ways an ex-Marine, now currently pissed off NCIS Special Agent can inflict pain on someone?"_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything relating to NCIS except a well watched Season 1 DVD Box set.

Once the emergency stop button had been pushed, perhaps a little harder than the manufacturers deem 'reasonable pressure', Gibbs turned his patented 'you will tell me everything I need to know, and more that I don't' stare at Fornell, expecting the FBI Agent to begin fumbling off excuses as to why he hadn't been sent all appropriate information and why the FBI could not assist in the investigation. Gibbs banked on this meeting being no different from their previous meetings, and judged that it would be a good four minutes of glaring and raised voices between the two Senior Agents before Fornell would give him the information he wanted, explain the roles of the main players involved, providing pictures where appropriate and offer additional support and the obligatory words of caution, before leaving.

Instead, Gibbs was visibly surprised to see Fornell lean back against the wall of the elevator, sigh loudly and rub his hand over the back of his balding head.

"_Fornell, cut the bureaucratic red-tape, need to know crap. I need the files the FBI has FORGOTTEN to deliver."_ Gibbs had deliberately chosen to avoid standing in his counterpart's personal space, somehow sensing that the FBI Agent simply would close off completely, and therefore his case would stagnate altogether.

"_Gibbs, at this moment, even if I could help you I don't think I would. Trust me, even though you can't see it right now, there is more at stake than your dead Marine, so much more than you realise."_ With having said that, Fornell pushed himself off the elevator wall, stepped past Gibbs and released the emergency stop button so they could return to the bullpen, where their respective Junior Agents were waiting to see who had triumphed in yet another NCIS vs FBI pissing contest.

When the elevator doors were again about to open Gibbs laid a hand on Fornell's arm while at the same time asking, _"What's really going on here? What don't I know?"_

_"There's a lot you don't know Gibbs and at this moment in time there still remains a lot I don't know and that's what scares me"_

On those closing comments, the two men walked back into the bullpen; Gibbs to check on the progress of his team's research into the background of their dead Marine, and Fornell to inform his two Agents' they were leaving.

Before Fornell had the chance to leave, Gibbs caught up with him having been aware throughout their brief encounter there was something deeply troubling his FBI equivalent. He motioned him off-side of his Agents _"Tobias you know I don't lock my doors, just bring your own mug or lift one from the kitchen on the way to the basement. Bourban's still next to the paint stripper."_

Fornell simply nodded before leading his two Junior Agents back onto the elevator.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi – apologies for the delay in updating this story, life has suddenly become VERY busy!! Many thanks to those people who have taken the time to leave positive reviews, they have been much appreciated.

This chapter may not make much sense to anyone reading it, but please bare with me, it will hopefully become much clearer in upcoming chapters.

Gibbs shook off his sports jacket and settled at his desk to again review the scant information forwarded to NCIS by the ever-friendly and co-operative FBI. Gibbs had already read and re-read the information more times than he cared to remember, yet his latest meeting with Fornell had unsettled him to the point he was purely willing new information to appear in front of him.

None of the information his team had gathered had made sense, nor did it allow the team sufficient latitude to hypothesis about why Major Michael Shields of the Marine Corps had been killed. Major Shields had an exemplary and clean service record; he was a weapons specialist who was currently on TAD at the Marine Base in Quantico having returned from Iraq five months previously. The seemingly senseless nature of the crime evoked in Gibbs a sense of foreboding that he could not shake; Major Shields had voluntarily extended his tour of the 'Sandbox' where he survived mortar attacks and bullet sprays by insurgents only to be found dead in his Washington DC home.

Preliminary autopsy finding indicated that Major Shields had died due to the severity of his injuries; Ducky had given a brief summary of the wounds Major Shields had suffered, too numerous to remember but the edited highlights included: multiple broken ribs, concussion, internal bleeding, broken fingers, a broken right leg in 3 places and multiple lacerations and bruises. In short, the Major had been tortured and there was no apparent motive.

Major Shields had signed up when he was 18 years of age, a committed Marine he had served during the first Gulf campaign, he survived injuries in Bosnia before joining a weapons development programme acting as a Marine combat Consultant. He returned from the recent Iraq campaign with an impressive list of commendations from Senior Officers for his actions which saved more than one fellow Marine and civilian alike. Major Shields had been teaching weapons training at Quantico and was heavily involved with a mentoring programme his younger sister Samantha had established. He had, until three months ago, been in a long-term relationship with a nurse named Julie from the Bethesda Naval Hospital; they had split up on seemingly good terms, remaining good friends.

Major Shields attended Church every Sunday, enjoyed social outings with family and friends, and he was well liked and respected by his colleagues and superior officers. A closer inspection of his financials' found nothing unusual or warranting further investigation, he did not live beyond his means, he had a reasonable amount of money in his savings account and all his bills were paid to date.

The team could not fathom why anyone would want to kill Major Shields, he was a law-abiding citizen who served his country with exemplary courage and honour; he did not appear to be under any undue influence. Yet the FBI had compiled an intelligence report on him; standard intel reports did not contain so much 'edited' information nor were they provided so willingly. Something had peeked the FBI's interest in Major Shields, and Gibbs was damned if he understood what it was.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: Tortured is written for personal motivation, no infringement on characters or situations intended.

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Gibbs slammed the NCIS and FBI files shut, sending other documents on his desk fluttering to the floor. McGee scrambled from his chair to pick up the errant papers and hastily arranged them before returning them to where they had fallen from; in the process he sent an empty paper coffee cup toppling over.

"_Damn it McGee just leave it. Did you get anything from the Major's computer?" _Gibbs stood up and walked to the plasma screen situated in the team's bullpen.

"_No Boss, there is nothing of interest on the hard drive. It seems Major Shields used the computer for purely recreational purposes."_ McGee turned to the plasma screen and reached for the remote control sitting on the shelf beside it, he pressed the power button and information he had collated appeared before them.

"_Define recreational McGee . . . are we talking fun and games, general interests or DiNozzo's definition of recreational?"_ Gibbs pointedly turned in Tony's directed, pinning him with a stare that told Tony his boss hadn't forgotten his previous indiscretion which resulted in Kate having to answer some very uncomfortable questions relating to her spare time activities and sexual preferences.

"_Hey Boss! I viewed those websites for research purposes only, it wasn't my fault that Kate took offence!"_ Tony having appeared to take great offence at Gibbs' insinuations, stood up and gestured wildly at Kate's desk, momentarily shoring himself up for the onslaught of accusations he knew Kate would never pass the opportunity of throwing at him; before he remembered his partner was still in Court testifying in a case the team had worked on previously. Apparently the defence had additional questions that had to be answered about the profile Kate had compiled about the accused. Kate was expected back in the office within the next couple of hours and Tony hoped she would bring food with her from the new Deli they had discovered during one of their 'team lunches'. Kate had not been at the crime scene, nor had she been involved in any of the preliminary investigations undertaken by the team, so Tony had had to do more than his normal share of the work load and therefore felt he needed to be adequately compensated - food, in this instance, would suffice.

_"Offence DiNozzo? She spent an afternoon explaining to the tech department why she had so much ham on her computer . . ."_

"_Uh Boss its spam not ham, but I uh can see how a person could confuse the terms; not meaning that you're confused but that the two words are very similar and I'm gonna be quiet now"_ Tony prattled out before realizing he may have just fuelled Gibbs wrath.

"_Spam? Ham? I don't care if it's corned beef – you used her computer to visit risqué websites and she had to convince the geeks not to involve the Director and start an internal investigation procedure."_

"_McGee – define RECREATIONAL!" _At this, Gibbs re-focused his attention at the plasma screen and listened while McGee stuttered and stumbled through a review of his findings.

Gibbs, having gained no additional insight about the Major announced he was leaving for coffee, but he wanted answers when he returned. He knew Tony and McGee could not pull the answers out of thin air any more than he could; they needed information badly. Gibbs hoped that when Kate was finally released from Court she could review the information they had accumulated with a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective and speculate about a motive that just was not glaringly apparent.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Tortured is written for purely recreational purposes, no infringement on characters or situations intended.

Again, this chapter may not make any sense - creative writing is not my forte!!

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When Gibbs returned to the office 40 minutes later, he threw his empty coffee cup in the bin at Kate's desk before starting on the other cup of coffee he was carrying. Tony and McGee reported that they had found no new information, before Gibbs left the bullpen to go to Abby's lab.

Whilst in the elevator Gibbs' mobile phone began to ring, he didn't look at the caller ID, instead answering with a harsh _"GIBBS"._

_"Hey Gibbs it's Kate, I tried ringing your desk phone but obviously you weren't there, I didn't want to leave a voicemail, so I decided to ring your mobile phone! I__t's just to let you know that it's likely I'll not be back in the office today, the defence has yet more questions I've already answered but they aren't satisfied. Though I think the Judge is starting to get annoyed so he'll probably call an end to it soon__."_ At this long-winded explanation, Gibbs began to smile and pressed the emergency stop button not wanting any other Agent or his goth lab tech, in particular, to realise how easy it was for Special Agent Todd to get a smile out of him when he was at his most bad-tempered and irritable self. Suddenly images of Kate's interaction with the prosecuting attorney during the pre-trial preparation sessions flashed before him, their mutual smiles and easy conversation, remembering how Tony had goaded Kate about the Naval lawyer and how she had merely blushed whilst never denying what Tony had said. Gibbs found his mood abruptly changed, returning to what it had been previously - if not worse.

_"Agent Todd when can we expect you back in the office? You do realise you work for a Federal Agency and are expected to earn your paycheck? We do have active cases at the moment__ that the Navy would like solved__, unless it has escaped your attention. You do seem to be enjoying being otherwise engaged. Perhaps you want to be transferred to the JAG office and work with the sailors - it can be arranged, perhaps with more speed and efficiency than you appear to be approaching your work with!"_ As soon as the words left Gibbs' mouth, he wished the elevator would just plummet to the basement; he heard Kate's rate of breathing increase significantly and knew he was being unduly unfair to her. Major Shields' murder and her continuing contact with the prosecuting lawyer, who was significantly younger than him, was unsettling and he needed Kate more than he cared to admit to himself to be her usual grounding force; someone to bounce ideas off no matter how ludicrous and as someone who had such a different, untainted view of life. Gibbs knew that neither Tony or McGee would dare stand up to him or contradict his line of reasoning, thats why he relied on Kate – she would speak her mind, arguing with him despite knowing that the chances of winning were slim, yet would do so with enough conviction and passion that Gibbs was more swayed than not by what she said. To Gibbs, it seemed incomprehensible that one woman could have so much power over him and be completely oblivious to it at the same time; her 'devil may care' approach to dealing with him had endeared her to him the first time she stood up to him. Time after time, Gibbs was reminded that Kate had indeed earned her jock strap, holding her own in a predominately male profession; yet she still had a long way to go, her need for continual positive affirmation was preventing her from breaking free of his team and striking out on her own – something that Gibbs was eternally grateful for.

_"Gibbs, I don't know when I'll be back – it is a court of law, I can't just walk out whilst being questioned because you say so" _Gibbs could hear the slight quiver in Kate's voice, then the sudden burst of resolve that seemed to come from nowhere _"just because Tony is probably whinning about extra work and making McGee's life a living nightmare, well more than usual if that's possible, does not make a credible reason to be excused from questionning no matter how much the lawyers are show-boating to the jurors and enraging the Judge! I will be in the office tomorrow morning at the earliest. Goodbye."_

Gibbs returned the phone to his inner pocket, scrubbed his hands over his head before releasing the emergency stop button so the elevator could continue it's descent to the forensics lab. During the short journey Gibbs reflected on how quickly the conversation with Kate had turned from a pleasant exchange of words, to him unintentionally antagonising her whilst he instantly regretted it. Before the doors opened Gibbs slapped himself on the back of the head before striding into Abby's lab and unplugging the CD player from the wall.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** _Tortured_ is written for personal motivation; no infringement on characters or situations are done so intentionally.

**Reminder:** Creative writing is not my thing, thank-you for staying with me!

Based on Wikipedia, a KA-BAR is a 12 inch fighting and utility knife issued to US Marines with their standard kit.

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"_What the? . . . HEY! Gibbs, so not fair – what'd Tony do now?"_ The harried lab tech was not prepared for Gibbs' latest onslaught of personal torture pinpointed on those people who did not conform to his demands. Abby had heard about Gibbs' earlier encounter with the FBI from Tim, and had no wish to further infuriate him by admitting that she did not have the answers Gibbs was looking for.

"_Abs, I need information; you've already had 7 uninterrupted hours to work on the evidence from the crime scene, what can you tell me?" _Gibbs walked over to where Abby was sitting in front of her computer monitor furiously typing in time to the music that had been, until his arrival, blaring in the background.

"_Gibbs it's so rude of you to enter a lady's lab, without bearing gifts such as CaffPow – whilst you are clearly inhaling your drug of choice; turn off the music when it was just coming to a rather enjoyable guitar rift that even the grumpiest of the species would appreciate and demand answers to this and reasons for that! So not gentleman like – shame on you! See I tired to make this point to Kate earlier; she leaves the office for a few days and you return to Mr No-Fun Neanderthal Special Agent Spoil the Fun!!"_ Abby at this point had bounced off her chair and currently had her hands on Gibbs' shoulders, shaking them with sufficient force to ensure his attention was focussed on her.

"_Finished yet Abs?"_ Gibbs had held Abby's eye throughout her rant, but on mention of Kate's name he looked to the ground; their phone conversation only minutes ago running through his mind. Hoping that Abby hadn't noticed his slip Gibbs tried to focus her attention to the situation at hand but as normal, found it to be a difficult task.

"_Seriously Gibbs, Kate leaves the office for a few days and you revert back to the Caveman, even Tony has reverted further back into his inner child - think he's currently somewhere between conception and birth based on the IM's he's been sending me. What gives? Normally when you don't bring me CaffPow it's because I've been bad, not had the results of tests when you wanted them; but this time you don't know that I don't have anything to report and you haven't brought me anything. It's like you were pre-empting my failure with punishment and that's not very nice; it kinda reminds me of when I was 15 and my parents . . . "_

"_ABBY WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND OUT? You've had 7 hours and counting, you must have found something I can go on? There's a Marine lying in Autopsy, MURDERED for no apparent reason – I WANT ANSWERS NOW!!"_

Abby, not having suffered Gibbs' wrath before and not knowing how to respond without provoking him further, adopted a professional reporting approach. The final toxicology reports were not completed but provisionally there was nothing of interest in the Major's blood screen; there were no anomalous fingerprints; the fibres and samples collected at the scene provided no useable information. Abby had attributed some of the injuries to Major Shield's torso as being from a claw hammer based on the pattern of the bruises; and the Major's own KA-BAR, issued to him with his standard kit when he signed up to the US Marines, had been used to cut his throat. Abby did not have any further forensic information at this point in the investigation, but assured Gibbs that once she did the team would be informed.

Gibbs knew he had upset Abby with his gruff and unforgiving attitude, and did the only thing he could think of to show rather than say he was sorry - plugged her CD player's plug back into the electric socket on his way out of her lab.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** _Tortured_ is written for personal motivation; any infringement on characters or situations is not intentional

I'm not great at character studies, so people involved in this story will not reflect their personalities as portrayed on the TV show. I stopped watching after Series 2 ended, so I have absolutely no idea how the characters have developed.

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When Gibbs rounded the corner back to his bullpen, he caught the look of apprehension that Tony and McGee shared; he knew that his agents did not have any new information to crack this case open, and the strain was beginning to show. Anyhow, Gibbs still had to ask what new information they had and as predicted neither could enlighten him as to a possible motive. Having made amends with Abby in a means that she had appreciated, Gibbs decided it would be only fair to do so with his two investigative agents.

"_Guys, lets call it a night. Tomorrow I want answers; if I don't get them NOBODY leaves this office until the case is solved. Go home, we restart at 7am. If anyone dares miss the start of the day, that person will be scrubbing toilets at Leavenworth, am I clear?"_ Gibbs spoke to his agents from behind his desk, having no intentions of leaving the building for a few more hours yet as Abby's tests may provide a vital piece of the puzzle, and he felt the team had wasted enough time playing petty bureaucratic games with the FBI.

"_Thanks Boss, Probie what do you say to Gibbs?"_ Tony felt the need to scold the petulant McGee who seemed to have lost his voice, fearing that Gibbs may change his mind and he wouldn't be able to make a late movie and dinner with Gabrielle, the pretty nurse he met when interviewing Major Shield's ex-girlfriend at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

"_Thank-you sir, ahm I mean Gibbs. I'll be here at 7am and make sure Tony is, will Kate be back then? Should I phone her with the time we're to report back?"_ McGee was hastily packing up his desk, fearing like Tony, that Gibbs would change his mind or that his phone would ring alerting them to another case.

"_No McGee, I'll do it. She should be out of Court now, probably driving herself home. I'll contact her later."_ Gibbs then muttered under his breath "..._and apologise for being such a first class ass."_

Twenty-three seconds later, Tony and McGee were making a frantic dash to the elevator shouting _"night-boss" "cheers Gibbs" "Hold the elevator" "outta my way Timmy"_ before their voices were drowned out by the closing of the doors.

Gibbs was left in the dim light of the bullpen and decided to make a mental list of what he wanted to accomplish before he went home. Top priority was to phone Kate, not so he could hear her talk or more importantly find out if she had returned home alone he kept reminding the snide little voice in his head; but to bring her up to speed with the progression of the case to date. He had no doubt that Abby had probably told her what the the team was working on and had just as likely told Kate about their earlier encounter in the lab; he had thought he heard the sound of her phone being lifted out of it's cradle when he was leaving, but wasn't sure. Abby, that was another priority on his list. Gibbs reasoned that after he called Kate he would probably either leave the office for coffee if he had found her to be home alone and would bring Abby a Caffpow or two back. Alternatively should Kate be with company (in particular the snobby naval prosecution lawyer who's been sniffing round her), he'd probably head straight home and finish the quarter bottle of bourbon in his basement and sand the frame of his boat until it turned to sawdust beneath him; in that scenario he'd just have to keep plying Abby with Caffpow throughout tomorrow.

Gibbs lifted his desk phone and dialled the number he knew by heart, whilst he was waiting for the call to connect he began to imagine how he wanted the call to go. He played it out in his head, he would have a pleasant conversation, wouldn't antagonise her nor end the call wishing to blatter himself over the head with the nearest heavy object. Gibbs heard the call finally connect and smiled in anticipation of hearing her voice, what he wasn't prepared for was her answering machine to start; he hung-up and dialled her mobile number, again recalling it from memory rather than using the speed dial, the call went straight to voice mail without ringing. Frustrated Gibbs put the phone down wanting to have an actual conversation with her rather than her answering machine; he knew it wasn't practicable of him to go home and drown his sorrows, so he decided to leave for coffee and Caffpow, and try contacting Kate on his return. _"Damn it, why don't you pick-up when I want to talk"_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** _Tortured_ is written for personal motivation, no infringement on characters or situations is done so intentionally.

All hail insomnia!! Can't sleep, so decided to upload the next part of the fic!!

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Gibbs deposited his caffeine bribe in the forensics lab much to Abby's relief and returned to the elevator after telling her to leave as he had already sent Tony and McGee home. As Gibbs was walking to the elevator, he heard Abby banging the partition between her lab and office; when he turned he saw her signing "_chin-up boss man"_ before she resumed packing up her belongings.

Gibbs entered the bullpen and caught the glare of a desk lamp in his direct line of sight; knowing it was highly unlikely his male agents would willingly return to the building before they had to, Gibbs knew it had to be Kate. When he rounded the dividers separating his team for the rest of the operational teams, Gibbs found himself grinning from ear to ear expecting to catch Kate unaware, hoping to fluster and embarrass her as become their routine; instead their section of the bullpen was empty. Gibbs stood in front of Kate's desk, taking in the scene before him; her coat and bag were behind her chair, her kit bag was shoved into the corner of her cubicle and a half eaten cereal bar and open carton of fruit juice sat on top of the copy of Major Shield's file Gibbs knew had been on his desk before he left for his coffee run.

Gibbs shook himself out of his stupor when he heard Kate returning to their bullpen humming to herself; seemingly she had been to the stationary cupboard as he saw she was carrying a new box of pens. _"Kate, what are you doing here at this time of the night? Everybody's left for the day, if you hurry you'll probably catch Abby heading out, we're meeting back her at 7am; I tried to ring you earlier."_

"_Hey Gibbs, thought I'd get a head start on the case! I got a garbled voice-mail from Tony saying you had sent him and Tim home early, so reckoning I'd get more peace now than tomorrow morning I decided to start the preliminary phases of my profiling report. Damn pen ran out, I thought I had more in my drawer but obviously not hence the new carton; when I walked past Tony's desk I saw my missing pens dismantled with bits of slimy paper in them."_

Gibbs smirked at this, _"Yea, Dinozzo's been using them as pea-shooters for the past few days and McGee for target practice; it is an unusual but strangely effective method, his aim at the shooting range has had a marked improvement."_ Gibbs flashed back to before their current case had started; he had been returning to the bullpen and saw Tony chewing up small strips of paper before spitting them at McGee through the pen's barrel; Gibbs did recognise that his agents did need to relieve stress every so often, but so did he – thwack, Tony's head snapped back whilst he uttered _"sorry boss"._

"_I'm going to kill him, only I won't be using mushy paper to shoot him with!! Anyway, I've gone through the information you guys have and it makes very light reading; and what's with the FBI's supposed intelligence report, it's more omissions in it that Tony has numbers in his palm pilot." _Kate began shuffling the papers and reports on her desk before reviewing the crime scene photographs while her face expressed the concentration with which she was studying them.

"_You've got what we've got; FBI took an interest in Shield's but won't tell us why, there is no forensic evidence of importance and Ducky reports the Major was tortured based on the extent and nature of the injuries inflicted. Ducky has found cause of death to be a cut throat, but it would have been a close call given the nature of his other injuries. Nobody in Shields' family, work and social network stand out as possible suspects; everybody has rock solid alibis."_

"_This wasn't a crime of opportunity, it was well planned and methodical in its execution"_ Kate looked at two particular photographs, scrutinising and comparing both under the desk lamp, _"what did Ducky make of this pattern of bruising to his lower abdomen, it's very distinctive? It almost looks like a picture of some kind – a symbol? Whatever the killer or killers wanted from Major Shield's most likely information due to the prolonged period of time it took to them to kill him, they were prepared to invest the time and effort in the torture, without fear of being caught or disturbed, to extract it."_

Gibbs looked to the two photographs Kate held up in front of her, imagining the pain and agony Shields must have endured during his ordeal. Did he give up the information the person or persons wanted? What information did the Major know, or did they think he knew? Just how was the FBI involved? _"We need to talk to Fornell, alone this time with none of his lackeys in tow."_

30 minutes later a bedraggled looking Fornell entered the bullpen and walked to the front of Gibbs' desk without acknowledging Kate's presence, _"Jethro, I meant what I said earlier I can't help you, my hands are tied"_

"_Funny you should sat that Tobias, Major Shields' hands were tied while he was being tortured. I really don't give a damn about FBI's need to assert their own omnipotence, the man was a damn __good Marine who didn't deserve to die in his own home suffering the way he did. You will tell me what I want to know Fornell or the consequences to your inaction's will be disastrous; the FBI has screwed up enough, it's time to hand the case notes over to professionals"_

Kate, having observed Fornell throughout his short interaction with Gibbs decided to interject and adopt a more conciliatory approach and walked to the two male agent currently squaring off at each other. _"Agent Fornell, is there or was there a personal or professional connection between yourself and Major Shields? There are significant omissions from your intelligence report, particularly if it is as you claim a standard file your agency has compiled? We all know the FBI doesn't do anything without at least three aims and objectives having been identified beforehand; was an agent involved in the Major's death, or do they have information about the killing you're reluctant to share?"_

"_Agent Todd" _Fornell turned to acknowledge her for the first time since he entered their bullpen_ "I should have guessed you'd be involved in this late night rendezvous; for a junior agent you do ask mighty big questions. Going straight for the jugular, Gibbs has taught you well. I haven't been involved in this case from the beginning, I just got assigned to clear up the mess and ensure the integrity of the agency is maintained. Gibbs, your basement in 2 hours; I have a meeting to attend in 20 minutes time, after that we'll compare notes. Bring Todd if you must." _Fornell turned to walk towards the elevator, and shouted over his back _"2 hours Gibbs"_

"_One hour, fifty nine minutes and counting"_


End file.
